Is belief in the Real Presence in danger of being lost?

With recent studies showing only approximately 30 percent of Catholics believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, combined with dilemmas of pro-abortion Catholics receiving the Eucharist at Mass, it may appear the truth of the Real Presence is in danger of being lost. However, one of Catholicism’s most recognized theologians and scholars says that is not the case at all. In fact, it points to a greater reality and truth.

“According to the study (2019 Pew Research Study), ‘nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ’. Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.’”

Dr. Scott Hahn says although many Catholics are surprised by the numbers who do not believe, he attributes the lack of faith in the Real Presence in part to the lack of supernatural faith but believes there is room for hope in the midst of it all. There is something greater revealed.

“If the Eucharist is just a meal, then Calvary is just an execution,” says Hahn. “If the Eucharist is just a meal, then what happened on Good Friday was not really a sacrifice. What happened on Good Friday was just a tragedy, a Roman execution and perhaps it rises to the level of a heroic martyrdom, but it couldn’t really be understood as a sacrifice – at least not by the devout Jews who were there witnessing this as bystanders. A sacrifice for Jews could not take place anywhere else except in the Jerusalem temple, on top of the altar, with a Levitical priest there to preside at the sacrificial offering.”

Dr. Hahn says belief in the Real Presence is a gift of faith. It’s a faith that not all receive because it requires the ability to go beyond our five human, limited, natural senses.

“We have got to re-examine just how limited we are and how precious the gift of faith is,” said Hahn. “It’s the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ and yet it looks and tastes just like a wafer. How in the world can guys like us look at a wafer professed to be the resurrected, glorified, body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ” but it still looks, tastes, feels, and smells like a wafer.”

Faith picks up and takes us beyond what our natural senses can tell us. The idea that 30% of Catholics believe in the Real Presence, despite what our senses tell us is real, is remarkable and should give us great hope. It should remind us that faith can always go deeper than what the senses can feel or experience. Faith is truly that which cannot be seen or experienced on our human, natural level. However, those who have received this depth of faith, this gift of faith, have a calling.

“We have got to re-examine just how limited we are and how precious the gift of supernatural faith is because if that is in fact what we profess it to be then how blind are we, how deaf are we?” says Hahn. “We don’t take our own sin seriously enough. We also don’t take our own natural limitations seriously enough. I think what we’ve got to recognize is to maintain our faith as Catholics requires a conversion that is ongoing, in fact, it has to be constant because we walk by faith and not by sight, yet we have to live our lives by sight and by sound and by touch. Yet, those five senses utterly deceive us when it comes to the things that matter most and so faith requires conversion.”

Although the conversion is day by day, month by month, and year by year, Hahn cautions us that we are never going to fully understand or comprehend the mystery of the Eucharist and faith during this life. It’s that type of faith, a radical and beyond superfluous and meaningless faith, which is required.

“That conversion is a turning to a reality that we are never going to grasp naturally. That means faith is going to require a conversion that is ongoing and constant, lifelong but daily, and really at every turn. Probably more radical than we let ourselves believe,” said Hahn. “I converted 36 years ago and that’s when I made my profession of the Catholic faith. I must admit giving up my career and giving up a number of friendships was really hard. What I got in exchange was immeasurably greater than what I had to surrender. Becoming a Catholic was much harder than I expected, and it was also more glorious than I anticipated. After 36 years, I am discovering again and again, over and over, that becoming holy is a lot harder than becoming Catholic.”

In order to create a Eucharistic life of devotion and faith, both for clergy and laity, Hahn recommends three steps: Renew Eucharistic faith not only in our lips but also in our hearts, renew Eucharistic devotion in holy hours and adoration, and cultivate a life of Eucharistic amazement at what is actually present in the tiny wafer. The three-step process can lead one into a life of conversion, a constant and on-going conversion, which leads to a greater faith and understanding of the Real Presence in the Eucharist.

Hahn said, “I think at the end of the day, what we’ve really got to do is marvel at the fact that 30 percent of people living in this world of ours still profess and that we’re a part of that. I wasn’t just non-Catholic, I was anti-Catholic, and if God can get these sacred mysteries through the thick exterior of me then he can do it to anybody.”